Priceless
by Hawki
Summary: Borderlands/Universum Oneshot: All vault hunters seek loot. True to their namesake, vaults are often the crown jewel of that search. But not all vaults are eridian in nature. And not all riches are the same...


_A/N_

_So, stumbled upon _Universum _recently. Mixed feelings about it, but hey, noticed a siren, remembered sirens from __the _Borderlands _setting, gave me the idea for a oneshot._

* * *

**Priceless**

"So you're a siren."

"Yes."

"And a vault hunter."

"Yes."

"So…that means…"

"The two aren't mutually exclusive."

"Oh."

Demeter pitied the Republican Guard, or at least the one escorting her through the ruins of New York. As far as the group itself was concerned, she couldn't care less – Earth meant little to her, she'd encountered far worse than the acarid, and 'professional soldiers' had shot at her too often for her to really care too much about the group itself. But the grunt, her guide, seemed okay. The type of person who needed money, was willing to go out of his way to get it, and all with being such a sweetie by not haggling her with questions every few seconds.

"So, about Pandora…"

Well, most of the time.

Demeter quickened her pace as she walked through the ruins, headed for the vault the man had spoken of. Unfortunately, he kept up.

"I heard you were on that rock. Out on the rim. What happened?"

"Other sirens. Other hunters. They got the loot before me."

"Oh."

Demeter stopped walking. Not out of any desire to indulge her guide's inquiries any further, but because they'd reached their target.

"Huh."

A huge crater lay before them, clearly made by the acarid, or in the TRA's recent reclamation of humanity's homeworld. The vault had been built deep within the ground, yet such was the force of the blast (or impact, Demeter couldn't be sure) that it lay exposed. She turned to her guide. He turned to her.

"Sweet, eh?"

She shrugged. Sweet, sour, bitter, she didn't care unless there was something in the structure that went beyond taste and her other four senses.

"So, about my fee…"

Demeter tossed him a bag of dollars. Money that was good on the rim, possibly here, if not, tough, she didn't owe him that much. Not when this vault clearly wasn't eridian. She began heading down into the crater, hopping from stone to stone.

"Um, if you need any help, I-"

Demeter flicked him off.

"Oh. Okay then."

_The glorious Terran Republic Alliance. Fight to get their homeworld back, willing to sell it out again, and don't have a functioning brain cell among them._

It was no wonder why so few people even bothered coming to Earth anymore, Demeter reflected, as she landed outside the vault's door. There were far better things out on the rim, and those better things were ruins of a far more advanced civilization. Not things that had shoddy doors that an explosive-tipped arrow from her bow destroyed in a single shot. Things that admittedly had eridian bio-weapons and C'thulu demonspawn, but at least one could have the pleasure of fighting them and making the journey worthwhile. Not things on ruined worlds where the fight was already done.

And things that had actual gold as well.

Demeter activated a hover-globe and let it drift through the vault. Books, statues, tapes…it was like being in a museum. An old, barely functioning museum with no visual aids.

_Crap. _

Long ago, maybe it wasn't crap, the siren thought. Maybe this was a history vault or something, a means of preserving history and culture before the acarid arrived. Maybe, back in the day, it was worth something. And maybe…she paused, licking her lips. Maybe it still _was _worth something. If culture and history were priceless, then maybe…maybe this could be sold. For a moment, she reached for one of the books…and retracted her hand. And began to walk out.

Priceless, she told herself. Unable to be sold. Worth nothing in any market.

_The glorious Terran Republic Alliance. Fight to get their homeworld back, willing to sell it out again, and don't have a functioning brain cell among them._

Or maybe, she reflected, the people of this world needed it more than she did.


End file.
